Home > Press > ApNano Materials to Manufacture New Line of Nanotechnology-Based Optically Black Coatings for Solar and Optical Applications

Abstract:
ApNano Materials, Inc.( http://www.apnano.com ), a provider of nanotechnology-based products, today announced a new line of nanotechnology-based non-reflective, optically black coatings. The new coatings will be used, in the first phase, in solar energy systems and optical application such as high performance optics and lenses. In the second phase, the nanotechnology-based coatings will be used in avionics systems and medical diagnostic applications.

ApNano Materials to Manufacture New Line of Nanotechnology-Based Optically Black Coatings for Solar and Optical Applications

New York, NY | Posted on October 24th, 2007

Heat and light absorbing coatings are commonly used in solar power and heating systems, heat pipes, lens barrels, various optical systems, satellites, and cameras, to name a few applications.

"ApNano Materials' nanoparticles are excellent optical absorbing materials and among the best substances absorbing light in the visible and near infra-red wavelengths," said Dr. Menachem Genut, President and CEO of ApNano Materials. "Laboratory experiments have shown that our nanoparticles absorb at least 98% of the light in visible wavelengths."

The solar applications will include both solar thermal and photovoltaic absorbers. The solar coatings that will be produced by ApNano Materials will offer more efficient conversion of solar energy.

"The rapid international growth in the demand for solar energy requires innovative technologies to improve the efficiency of solar systems, and black coatings based on ApNano's nanoparticles provide an ideal answer for this need," said Aharon Feuerstein, ApNano Materials' Chairman and CFO.

ApNano's revolutionary nanoparticles of tungsten disulfide, (WS2), termed inorganic fullerene-like nanostructures, or IF for short, are soccer ball-like clusters of molecules, named after R. Buckminster Fuller, architect of the geodesic dome that he designed for the 1967 Montreal World Exhibition. The inorganic fullerenes were first discovered in a breakthrough research conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, by a group headed by Professor Reshef Tenne, who currently holds the Drake Family Chair in Nanotechnology and serves as the Director of Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Nanoscale Science at the Weizmann Institute. Dr. Menachem Genut, ApNano Materials' President and CEO was a research fellow in the original research team which discovered the IF nanoparticles at the Weizmann Institute and first to synthesize the new material.

"The new line is ApNano's second energy-related product and follows NanoLub, the world's first commercial nanotechnology-based solid lubricant," said Dr. Niles Fleischer, Vice President of Business Development and Vice President of Product Development of ApNano Materials. "In addition to energy-related applications, ApNano's nanomaterial has been proved, so far, as an ideal material for shock absorbing applications, such as personal armor products."

Recently ApNano Materials opened a new 1,000 square meter manufacturing facility in Israel. The facility houses a semi-industrial reactor with a production capacity of tons of the company's nanomaterial. The new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility meets international guidelines for health, safety and manufacturing of nanomaterials.

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About ApNano Materials, Inc.ApNano Materials ( http://www.apnano.com ), is a private nanotechnology company founded in 2002 by Dr. Menachem Genut, President and CEO and Mr. Aharon Feuerstein, Chairman and CFO. ApNano Materials was incorporated in the US and is headquartered in New York, USA. Its fully-owned Israeli subsidiary - NanoMaterials, Ltd., is located in the high tech science park adjacent to the Weizmann Institute campus in Nes Ziona, Israel. The company was granted an exclusive license by Yeda Research and Development Co. Ltd, the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, to manufacture, commercialize and sell a new class of nanomaterials based on inorganic compounds that were discovered at the Institute. The shareholders of ApNano Materials, besides the founders, are Newton Technology VC Fund, Yeda Research and Development Co. LTD. (the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science), AYYT LTD. (the commercial arm of HIT, Israel), and private European investors.